Has anyone tried out any of the new 650s since their launch on Saturday? I rather like the 650 X country...
I rode all three of them on Saturday and was rather impressed! Quick views are:
XChallenge: great fun, even on tarmac where I tried it out, but wow is it TALL (I'm 5'10")! And uncomfortable too - that seat is like riding an ironing board
XMoto: see above... but even more fun on tarmac, obviously...
XCountry: much more comfortable than the other two, but not as good as the Dakar seat.
I guess there's no surprises in this feedback. However, one potentially interesting approach I've been thinking about relates to the fact that the 3 bikes share an identical frame.
So theoretically, you could take the seat/tank/tail off the XCountry, for example, and put in on the XChallenge to combine the comfort with the go-anywhere chassis (and get a much lower seat height). I had the seat off all 3 bikes on Saturday and it looks like this sort of parts exchange is possible. I assume you could also grab the wheels of the XMoto for road riding. Hopefully someone will bring out some decent luggage / touring options too. In other words, I'm after 2-3 bikes in one
I'm having these thoughts with a view to making a lighter Dakar, but given it would cost a small fortune, I'm probably better off waiting until BMW release a new lighter one... or the F800GS for that matter
Anyway, there's my thoughts out loud for the morning...
Steve